July 2, 2022
Thanks to the three justices appointed by former President Trump, the issue of abortion will be decided by the elected representatives of the American people. Despite the claims of the outraged, abortion is not a Constitutional right. There is no mention of abortion in the Constitution, nor does it have a history in American common law.
Even the liberal icon, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was ardently pro-choice, had questioned the legal foundations of the 1973 decision in Roe vs. Wade. In the majority opinion of the reversal of Roe in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health, Justice Samuel Alito quoted Ginsburg twice. Alito cited comments Ginsburg made in a 1992 NYU Law lecture where she argued –
“[Roe] halted a political process that was moving in a reform direction and thereby, I believe prolonged divisiveness and deferred stable settlement of the issue.”
Ginsburg also believed that Roe went too far too quickly. During the same lecture, Ginsburg stated that “a less encompassing Roe, one that merely struck down the extreme Texas law and went no further on that day, I believe…might have served to reduce rather than fuel controversy.”
Although the Supreme Court found no constitutional basis for abortion, the justices did not conclude abortion was unconstitutional. In their opinion, Alito wrote:
“The Constitution is neither pro-life nor pro-choice. The Constitution is neutral, and this Court likewise must be scrupulously neutral.”
Despite the apocalyptic reaction from many on the left, the reversal of Roe does not end abortion in the United States, it merely leaves the matter up to individual states where it belongs.
The purpose of the judiciary branch of government is to interpret the law, not to make the law. If Democrats want to cast blame, they should look at their own Party, not the Supreme Court.
More than anyone, the left should hold the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responsible for the reversal of Roe. If Reid did not blow up the filibuster for judicial nominees, Trump would never have been able to place three conservative justices on the Supreme Court. But, Democrats will never concede that changing the Senate rules for short-term political gain was unwise.
Members of the Democratic Party are even doubling down on their willingness to destroy institutional norms for political expediency. This week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Biden both stated they want Senate Democrats to make an exception to the filibuster rule to pass abortion rights into law. They think Americans are fools. As if one exception will not lead to more, allowing Democrats to ram through their entire radical agenda.
Without the filibuster, Democrats will only need 51 votes in the Senate, rather than 60, enabling bills to advance out of the chamber without a single Republican vote. Once precedent, when Republicans win back control of congress, they too will be able to pass anything with just a majority, ending the deliberative nature of the Senate and causing policy whiplash.
Interestingly, when asked in 2019 if he supported ending the filibuster, Biden stated –
“Ending the filibuster is a very dangerous thing to do…”
Perhaps Biden has decided the real danger is the upcoming midterm elections, which bode poorly for Democrats according to polling.
Senator Elizabeth Warren similarly prioritizes short-term political wins over the welfare of our nation. On ABC’s “This Week” Warren trashed the Supreme Court claiming they “burned whatever legitimacy they still may have after their gun decision, after their voting decision, after their union decision.” She added, “They just took the last of it and set a torch to it with the Roe vs. Wade opinion.”
Warren concluded that restoring “confidence” to the Court requires adding more justices. In other words, the Supreme Court is only “legitimate” when they rule in favor of the Democratic agenda. And when they do not, Democrats are justified to pack the Court with liberal justices to get the decisions they want.
It defies logic that anyone could believe that reducing the highest court in the land to just another political branch of government that continually grows and whipsaws to the left or right depending upon who is in power will restore “confidence” to the Court.
Shamefully, on the international stage, in Madrid, Biden also attacked the US judiciary, accusing the Supreme Court of “destabilizing” and “outrageous behavior”.
In response to Biden’s disregard for the historic mantra “politics stops at the water’s edge”, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement “…President Biden’s attacks on the Court are unmerited and dangerous.” It is also Un-American for the President of the United States to denigrate another branch of government, especially on foreign soil.
Not one to be outdone by her fellow leftists, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on “Meet the Press”, claimed that Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh should be impeached for lying at their confirmation hearings.
Belying the accusation, at no point during their confirmation hearings did Gorsuch or Kavanaugh state how they would rule on Roe vs. Wade. They merely agreed that Roe was a precedent of the US Supreme Court. Neither claimed Roe could not be overturned. Stating how they would rule before hearing the specific case in front of the Court would have been considered pre-judging- a violation of basic judicial ethics.
Not surprisingly, after the Roe decision went public, demonstrations nationwide occurred. While some were peaceful, many were not. In Portland, Oregon, rioters smashed building and store windows and vandalized a pregnancy center. Abortion activists also lit a pregnancy center on fire in Colorado and spraypainted the building with graffiti reading, “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you.” Let’s also not forget the near-assassination of Justice Kavanaugh, which Biden has never personally condemned.
Ironically those on the left are accusing Republicans of being a threat to US democracy after the reversal of Roe. Yet, it is Democrats who routinely display disdain and disregard for our nation’s norms, institutions, and rule of law. The ends always justify the means for many Democrats.
Benjamin Franklin presciently warned in 1787, when asked after the Constitutional Convention if we had a republic or monarchy,
“A republic, if you can keep it.”
Thankfully, Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema oppose ending the filibuster, blocking Democrats from shortcutting the Senate. For now, the Republican Party and only two sane Democrats are a bulwark against those warned about by Franklin.
If Democrats hold the House and gain two Senate seats in November, the fillibuster may be history. With majority rule and no filibuster, Democrats could: pack the court, federalize national elections, make DC and Puerto Rico a state, and pass the Green New Deal and Build Back Better.
If anyone needed another reason to vote red in November- preventing Democrats from keeping control of congress and killing the filibuster, along with our constitutional republic, is a good one.
