Many are saying what the Supreme Court accomplished Friday with Roe v. Wade has opened the door “for undoing other areas of personal autonomy.”
This from wskg.org.
NPR’s Nina Totenberg, “the dean of Supreme Court reporters,” and a liberal reporter’s reporter (Note: It is widely acknowledged she reports with bias, contrary to being a journalist) stated:
[This is] the legal equivalent of a nuclear bomb.
And now, of course, there are many questions being asked about going forward. In brief, the following addresses six of those questions:
1. What happens for access to abortion now?
The Supreme Court is leaving it up to the states to decide how to regulate—or outlaw—abortion.
Twenty-two states have trigger laws in place that will outlaw abortion immediately.
Almost all are in red states, or places Donald Trump won in the presidential election. The U.S. is now going to have a patchwork of laws.
In red states with legislatures controlled by Republicans, an abortion is likely to be banned or made much more difficult to get.
And in blue states, places democrats traditionally win in presidential elections and control the legislatures, abortion access will remain in place.
This will, no doubt, make for a very complicated collection of new laws and regulations across the country.
2. Will the court go further, after other rights?
Justice Thomas wrote that he wants the court to reexamine precedents on cases dealing with contraception, same-sex marriage and even same-sex sex.
Other conservative justices said they disagree with that, but few thought the Supreme Court would go even this far and outright overturn Roe.
One thing is clear, this is not Chief Justice Roberts’ court anymore. He wrote a concurrent opinion advocating for upholding Mississippi’s 15-week ban, but not to go beyond that.
The court’s conservative supermajority didn’t listen. It’s their court now. If they band together, there’s no telling how they can—and will—reshape American society and culture.
3. What will this mean for the Supreme Court’s credibility?
The Left will say that public opinion states most Americans want abortion, with restrictions, to remain legal, and, of course, the Right is saying quite the opposite.
The Left is also saying the court’s credibility has declined and opinion of it has become more polarized this year. The Right, again disagrees in large part, and points to the radical behavior of the Left as extreme lawlessness that must be quelled one way or another.
Time will tell how the Court is perceived, however, let’s first allow the dust from the Roe decision to settle.
4. Will the idea of doing away with the filibuster and packing the court become more mainstream?
Expect there to be a movement among progressives to add more justices to the Court.
The Court no longer consists of a majority of Living-Document justices and adding justices is one way the left will seek to rectify what they see as being problematic.
Once a democrat ceases to be the place-holder of the White House, and particularly if the GOP gains control of congress, this talk of “packing” will also cease.
5. Will democrats and liberals respond more forcefully?
Some democrat leaders have already called for violent street action by their constituents.
Note: This is against the law and should be addressed, but for the apparent two-tiered justice system currently in place.
What is not being made crystal clear is that the 1973 Roe decision was bad medicine—it was an unconstitutional decision—brought about by a Supreme Court that had, in effect, been “packed” with Living-Document justices.
Expect democrats to be creative in their approach to elections. Conservatives are foolish to imagine this win will be easily retained.
With the relative young ages of the Supreme Court nominees and the estrangement we are seeing of voters across the country from the democrat party, we can expect any liberalizing of the Court to be multiple election cycles into the future.
6. Will this decision shake up the 2022 election?
Democrats are spreading, in a hopeful manner, propaganda about a backlash, however, the decision is unlikely to change the forecast for control of the House.
Republicans are favored to take the House and possibly the Senate and this is unlikely to change.
Presently, and in the foreseeable future, people say they are more concerned about inflation and gas prices as motivating factors.
But this ruling undoubtedly introduces a wildcard. And it will be important to closely watch how the political landscape moves in the coming weeks.
The 2022 election is presently the GOP’s to lose.
And keep in mind that President Trump is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination in 2024, and it’s because of his Supreme Court nominations that this day is here.
Both 2022 and 2024 are the Repubicans’ elections to lose.
