The United States Supreme Court today overturned a landmark decision that virtually legalized abortion across the country, returning control of the procedure to individual states.
The court’s conservative majority’s decision to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision has effectively terminated constitutional safeguards for abortion that have been in place for over 50 years.
The decision stated that ‘the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.’
Tensions in the country have been running high since a draft opinion of Dobbs was leaked, revealing that the high court’s conservative majority was prepared to return abortion legality to the states.
The draft was followed by a 6-3 conservative majority, with liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer dissenting. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the majority.
‘Guided by the history and tradition that map the essential components of the Nation’s concept of ordered liberty, the Court finds the Fourteenth Amendment clearly does not protect the right to an abortion,’ the decision, penned by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, said.
The opinion also rejected the notion that stare decisis, or settled law, locked in the decades-old ruling, even after recent court nominees all stated a commitment to the concept.
‘The doctrine of stare decisis does not counsel continued acceptance of Roe and Casey,’ the majority argued, adding: ‘But stare decisis is not an inexorable command,’ it said.
The conservative justices likened Roe to Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld racial segregation as ‘separate but equal.’
‘Like the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, Roe was also egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided,’ the ruling said.
‘Casey perpetuated its errors, calling both sides of the national controversy to resolve their debate, but in doing so, Casey necessarily declared a winning side,’ it continued. ‘Those on the losing side – those who sought to advance the State’s interest in fetal life – could no longer seek to persuade their elected representatives to adopt policies consistent with their views.’
‘The Court short-circuited the democratic process by closing it to the large number of Americans who disagreed with Roe,’ the ruling added.
The blistering language pointed to the array of state laws that outright banned abortion during the 19th century, and accused the high court of acting like a legislature to sort through in which circumstances abortion would be allowed.
Alito wrote: ‘Roe’s failure even to note the overwhelming consensus of state laws in effect in 1868 is striking, and what it said about the common law was simply wrong. Then, after surveying history, the opinion spent many paragraphs conducting the sort of fact finding that might be undertaken by a legislative committee, and did not explain why the sources on which it relied shed light on the meaning of the Constitution.’
One line in the opinion addressed arguments by the government and critics including President Joe Biden that a ruling striking down Roe’s privacy right could threaten other rights – from birth control to gay marriage.
The opinion states that this is not so. ‘The Solicitor General suggests that overruling Roe and Casey would threaten the protection of other rights under the Due Process Clause. The Court emphasizes that this decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right. Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.’
In a signal that the Biden administration is at least preparing for bad news, Vice President Kamala Harris convened seven state attorneys general at the White House Thursday to discuss strategies to combat any such ruling.
‘I have asked these attorneys general to meet with us knowing that they have a pivotal role to play in defending women’s reproductive freedom and their rights to make decisions about their own body,’ Harris said at the top of the meeting.
She said the attorneys general may have to challenge any Supreme Court ruling.
‘As reproductive rights are being restricted around our country and potentially by the Supreme Court soon I think we believe and we’ve started prelimianry discussions about how Attorneys General have the power, may have the power at the very least, to issue guidance to ensure that the people of their state know their rights, that they have the power to assess and potentially challenged the constitutionality of laws that are being passed in their states,’ she said.
Harris has taken the lead for President Joe Biden’s administration on defending abortion and reproductive rights.
If the Court does strike down Roe, the administration will be forced to rely on law enforcement, potential executive actions, and other measures to try to ensure access to abortion rights in states that have been whittling away at the practice for years.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration would also push Congress to codify Roe into law.
‘If this happens, one of the things that I can say right now that we will do is call on Congress to restore Roe,’ she said during an interview on ABC’s The View.
Even if Democrats dominate Congress, an abortion-rights bill is unlikely to pass the 50-50 Senate, where any legislation need the support of at least ten Republican senators to move forward in the legislative process.
Attorneys general from Wisconsin, Nevada, Illinois, California, Delaware, New York, and Washington state attended the meeting with Harris.
If abortion is made illegal, state attorneys general will most likely be on the front lines of defense.
They are the senior legal officers in their states and have the authority to file additional lawsuits concerning reproductive rights.
Biden is a lifelong Catholic who first opposed Roe v. Wade and has only recently come to support abortion rights.
He criticized the leaked draft opinion.
Protesters on both sides of the divisive subject have gathered outside the court on a daily basis during the final days of the court’s term, which typically finishes in late June.
The structure is enclosed by a tall fence, which was erected after the draft was leaked last month.
The political battle over abortion was revived last month when Politico revealed a draft majority judgment in which Roe v. Wade was ruled unconstitutional. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito argues in it that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start” and that it must be overturned.
If no judges have changed their minds since Alito wrote the draft, the famous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing abortion rights would be overturned.
There are now 18 states with near-total abortion prohibitions on the books.
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming are the states involved.
On the other end of the spectrum, legislation protecting a person’s right to abortion exist in 16 states and the District of Columbia.
After an armed man was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home, Congress passed legislation to provide security protection to justices, with public attention focused on the court, where conservatives held a 6-3 majority.
In a decision that could lead to an increase in the number of weapons in public places, the court on Thursday struck down a New York law that required “proper-cause” to carry a concealed weapon. It also found that when police fail to provide suspects in crimes the well-known Miranda warning before interviewing them, they are not liable for violating their rights.