WAPO Editorial Board: The Supreme Court might never recover from overturning Roe v. Wade

[Nevilledog]

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Amy Siskind 🏳️‍🌈
@Amy_Siskind
WAPO Editorial Board:
“the court has never revoked a fundamental constitutional right….Overturning Roe would constrict liberty — and be a repugnant repudiation of the American tradition in which freedom extends to an ever-wider circle of people.”

washingtonpost.com
Opinion | The Supreme Court might never recover from overturning Roe v. Wade
Such a ruling would deal a grievous blow to freedom in the United States — and to the legitimacy of the court itself.
6:27 PM · May 3, 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/03/supreme-court-might-never-recover-overturning-roe-v-wade/

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https://archive.ph/hotvq


On Monday, Politico published a draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling declaring that the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to end their pregnancies. The court later confirmed that the document, written in February, is genuine, but emphasized that it is not the court’s final word. We hope not. If the justices embrace the sweeping document, they will deal a grievous blow to freedom in the United States — and to the legitimacy of the court itself.

Such a leak from the court’s typically tight inner sanctum is itself astonishing. The court works on trust among justices and staff, so that the justices can deliberate frankly. Whether the document leaked from a conservative justice’s chambers, in an effort to lock in the support of others on the right for its far-reaching language, or from a liberal’s, in an effort to mobilize outside pressure against such a ruling, the leak represents a dire breakdown in norms and another dramatic sign of the court’s political drift.

But the draft ruling’s dreadful reasoning and extreme potential consequences are far more concerning than what the leak says about the court’s internal dynamics. Written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the document would declare Roe “egregiously wrong,” obliterate its guarantees of reproductive choice and empower lawmakers to abridge at will this long-held right.

The court’s legitimacy rests on the notion that it follows the law, not the personal or ideological preferences of the justices who happen to serve on it at any given time. Americans rely on the court to exercise care and restraint against making sharp turns that might suddenly declare their everyday choices and activities unprotected or illegal. Over the course of nearly half a century, the court not only issued Roe but upheld its bedrock principles against later challenges. Throughout, the original 1973 decision enjoyed broad and unwavering public support. What brought the court to its current precipice was not a fundamental shift in American values regarding abortion. It was the shameless legislative maneuvering of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who jammed two Trump-nominated justices onto the court.

*snip*

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. "Might" never recover? It WILL never recover.

[dchill]

3. Deconstructing the Bill of Rights is a long-held goal...

...of rabid cons like Alito. (And, of course, the other lying wretches.)

[Vogon_Glory]

12. I think it will recover in time

Last edited Wed May 4, 2022, 10:05 AM - Edit history (1)

But the people who will live to see it currently wear diapers, are learning to walk, and are also teething. They’ll be septuagenarians when the Court recovers it’s reputation (If it does).

[Xoan]

2. Sooo...it appears the Supreme Court believes their opinions have a fundamental right to privacy...

- Jon Stewart

[Lovie777]

4. That and Jan 6th . . ..

I truly believe that the RW justices knew and were part of it .....

[2naSalit]

5. And this is how they planned...

To destroy the SCOTUS.

[Cheezoholic]

10. Exactly

it's a win/win/win for repugs imo. As is, they win. Say this draft gets altered to a slightly less drastic butchering of Roe/Casey, they win via upholding current excessive restrictions in states. A surprising reversal of this draft, they win because they will go full tilt using it to flush any legitimacy left of of the court down the proverbial toilet.

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. When 70% of the voters think you are ideologues.

Pass it and see what happens.

[drray23]

7. sure, but in practice what does this means?

The supreme court judges are insulated from any consequence. They do not report to anybody and especially not voters since they have lifetime appointments. I doubt it would get to the point that their decisions would be simply ignored, at least by democrats.

[Model35mech]

8. Oh, the court could get restacked by adding justices

That might begin under the guise of seeking greater diversity on the court reflecting national diversity.

Such an expansion would likely end up being done by both sides and as a playing piece in partisan politics the court and its decisions would soon become unstable.

That would make a lot of long-term decision making by business and consumers (anything longer than 2-4 years) unreliable.

[FBaggins]

15. Not any time soon

The votes aren't there.

The question remains. The WaPost is saying that the court "may never recover"... but it never says what is lost apart from perceived legitimacy... nor what a "recovery" would look like.

[RobinA]

36. Judging By Some

of the comments and questions we've heard in this case both through the oral arguments and this written opinion, it would seem like they are insulated from quite a bit of what most of us would consider "real life."

[Rhiannon12866]

9. What the Court may never recover from are the unqualified nominees of TFG

This is minority rule.

[JudyM]

16. Yes, by sabotage.

[FelineOverlord]

11. I have decided

That if we have no right to privacy.

Neither should Supreme Court Justices.

[BlueIdaho]

22. Exactly!

Each Justice should be reachable by every US citizen by email, phone, and a knock on the door.

[roamer65]

13. It won't recover.

Bush v Gore did lasting damage and an overturn of Roe will be the final nail in its coffin.

[llmart]

14. +1000

I grew up thinking that the Supreme Court was the most honorable part of our government and even through the 60's and 70's I still felt that way about them, even though I no longer did about the other two branches of government. Then along came Bush v Gore and it took me so long to wrap my mind around what had happened. I no longer trusted the Supreme Court to be unbiased and made up of ethical people. With the appointment of that phony Thomas it got worse than along comes a drunken frat boy and a handmaiden and I'm completely sure that we could live without a so-called "supreme" court.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. "I grew up thinking that the Supreme Court was the most honorable part of our government"

And I grew up knowing they had already done this -



and this -





So even with "Brown vs. Board of Education", little has changed with respect to "equal protection" (because all kinds of pretzel-twisting has happened with what is meant by that and defacto segregation continues - even with multiple laws prohibiting it) and there is little expectation for "fairness".

So what is happening now is a "par for the course" expectation.

[True Blue American]

30. Bush vs Gore

Last edited Sun May 8, 2022, 11:53 AM - Edit history (1)

Finished me with any integrity in the Supreme Court. Feingold/McCain started my distrust. Now they are corrupt to the core.

William Rehnquist gave us Bush vs Gore. He was corrupt from the beginning of his career, preventing blacks from voting in Texas!

[True Blue American]

24. Yes, They knew it was wrong by saying it was a one

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Time decision, McCain/ Fiengold was the beginning, then Citizens United. Worse 4 of them lied in their Congressional Hearings. They have no legitimacy any more.

Do not forget Thomas and his far right wife. Roberts ignored that but is furious about the leak. He is dead meat, too.. no character left in the Court.

[True Blue American]

25. Yes, They knew it was wrong by saying it was a one

Time decision, McCain/ Fiengold was the beginning, then Citizens United. Worse 4 of them lied in their Congressional Hearings. They have no legitimacy any more.

Do not forget Thomas and his far right wife. Roberts ignored that but is furious about the leak. He is dead meat, too.. no character left in the Court.

[Achilleaze]

33. Roberts is fine with the Thomas GOP traitors

but then busts a bunch of brain cells around a "leak."

Sick GOP Justices have undermined themselves.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

35. Yup. nt

[RobinA]

37. Bush V Gore

was the egregious beginning of the end of the SCt presumption of integrity. I would argue that it was a far greater blow to our democracy than Dobbs, which I am in no way downplaying. Bush/Gore was the Court saying that the votes of a US presidential election did not have to be counted.

[LT Barclay]

17. They already jumped the shark a while back

They decided corporations were people and money was speech.
They have been ripping our country apart since then. There is nothing to recover but the question is what do we do to fix the third branch of government?

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. I don't think the USA is going to recover, never mind the Court (n/t)

[Carlitos Brigante]

19. It won't matter one iota. If they complete their little fascistic plan, they have in store

for our for of government.

[UTUSN]

20. How come it's been chugging along after Coup 2000, not to mention previous Xs?!1

[usaf-vet]

23. I have ALWAYS believe Gore v. Bush was the first PLANNED step to destroy our Democracy.

They needed to get hackable voting systems into our national election system to better manipulate voting results and, at the same time, add doubt in the election results where it benefitted them.

Appointing Bush was step one.

Maybe someday, an intelligent historian will expose all the interim planned steps to bring us to Trump / McTurttle and the complete stacking of the right-wing SCOTUS and other federal courts. Followed by the January 6th attack on Congress.

It is clear that there is more to come as we now see the Roe v. Wade decision is on the chopping block.

[True Blue American]

31. Pushing the money flood

By voting against the bill that limited money in Politics was actually the first but none of us paid attention then. One step at a time destroying our rights.

[usaf-vet]

34. Right! Maybe this would be a great project for the DUers. Building the history of the piece by.....

..... by piece, brick by brick, destruction of our Democracy.

We all have different memories of which brick got removed and in what order.

[True Blue American]

39. Money has flooded into Dems!

We have a Lady Governor candidate. Abortion was the main subject in Ohio!🎁❤️

[True Blue American]

40. Money has flooded into Dems!

We have a Lady Governor candidate. Abortion was the main subject in Ohio!🎁❤️

[SWBTATTReg]

26. Americans aren't free is what this bad decision tells me. Our freedoms aren't there and this ...

country is truly no longer a democracy.

[Stuart G]

27. The Supreme Court will survive, and Our Nation will survive.

We have been through worse events:

...Civil War
...World War 1
...World War 2
... Depression in the 30s
...Korean War
...Kennedy's Assassination
...Viet Nam War
...Watergate
...Nixon as President
...Trump as President
...Covid -19
...Plessy vs Furgeson
...On and On & On...

Yes, I do think the U.S.A. will survive as a democracy and as a functioning nation.
...We have survived much ...WORSE

[RobinA]

38. I'm Not Ready

to say we survived Trump as president. First of all, he could be president again, although I doubt it. Second and more importantly, the effects of his presidency are still very much at work in our country. It's not usually an asteroid strike that ends civilizations, it's a bunch of little things, in and of themselves not fatal, but in combination a death knell.

Not saying we are there yet, but I can tell you, if I were childbearing age I would not be having children. And I've never understood that, "I'm not bringing children into this world" way of thinking, but I do now.

[GarColga]

28. We really need to end this

"lifetime appointment" for Federal judges. When SCOTUS first convened in 1789, the average American male lived to be about 40 years old. Nowadays the average American man or woman lives to be about twice that. The founders never envisioned somebody being on the Federal bench for 20, 30, or 40 years!

[dalton99a]

29. It's beyond stupid to assume they will stop after taking away abortion rights.

No one should ever underestimate the fascists in black robes

[Achilleaze]

32. "repugnant repudiation" of America

There you have the KGOP Republican party in a phrase.

[True Blue American]

41. Thames said they did not have to give popular opinions

And we would just have to accept what they decided!
Al Sharpton said was not even talking law, he said we just had to accept what they decided. The guy whose wife took part in the insurrection! Al was not a happy camper with Clarence.!