How SCOTUS Lost Its Way
Three Trump appointees ruined it for everyone — and we all saw it coming (well, almost all)
Editorial rights purchased by iStock. Photo by Sebastian Kaczorowski.
The draft opinion by Justice Alito to overturn Roe v Wade has everybody reeling. I just heard clips from the confirmation hearings of Justices Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett. All of them spoke confidently about the significance of stare decisis (or precedent in layman’s terms), that Roe v Wade set for the entire nation in 1973.
It was clear to me during each of their confirmation hearings, (if not to Senators Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski), that the three Trump appointees were intentionally misleading all of us when they did their best to sound like they would not overturn Roe v Wade. None of them answered that question directly. Instead, all three said the same thing. They all gave a little speech about the importance of stare decisis and how Roe v Wade had already been decided.
What they didn’t say is that after considering the importance of said precedent, they planned to overturn it anyway. They didn’t have to. Trump said it. He said it when he picked them each as nominees to the Supreme Court and he repeated it multiple times.
I don’t know what’s worse, Supreme Court nominees who deliberately manipulate the public or members of Congress who can’t think their way out of a paper bag. I do know that the combination is frightening.
We now have a Supreme Court that has sanctioned the use of personal religious beliefs to overturn freedoms women have enjoyed for almost 50 years. While Justices Alito and Thomas may have wanted to do this long ago, it was only after Trump’s presidency that similarly misguided right-wing fanatics have held a majority on the court.
I have some questions for the justices who are poised to overturn Roe v Wade and I’d like some answers.
What is your basis for deciding life begins with conception? I think it begins with birth. How do you know you’re right?
What is your basis for assuming that the rights of a fetus should take precedence over the rights of a mother?
Why are you making healthcare decisions for women none of you know?
What are the harms done since Roe v Wade was decided?
If all you can cite is the failure to bring an unwanted pregnancy to term, how do you know these so-called harms are greater than the harm of forcing an incest or rape victim to carry a child to term? Or a homeless woman with no resources, or a drug addict or alcoholic who does not wish to have a child? Or a trans person who is living as a man and doesn’t wish to have a child? Or a woman like me who just doesn’t want to have kids? On what do you base the idea that making them have the child is better than allowing them the freedom to choose for themselves?
Do you comprehend how painful it would be for a victim of incest or rape to be forced to carry the child of the man who abused her? Do you care?
This one’s for Amy Coney Barrett: If you were raped and beaten by a Black man or a Muslim would you have their child?
This one’s for Clarence Thomas: Have you ever had sex outside your marriage? Have you ever been responsible for an unwanted pregnancy? Oh, is this too personal for you? FYI: It’s not nearly as personal as having a stranger make your healthcare choices for you.
This one’s for Neil Gorsuch: If you don’t have the judgment to forgive a man who abandoned a truck to save his own life, what makes you think your judgment should determine whether a woman creates a life?
This one’s for Brett Kavanaugh: If your play date with Christine Blasey Ford had resulted in a pregnancy, would you have married her and raised the child?
I’m going to answer this one for you. You would not. You would not because it would have curtailed your rise to power in the holier than thou Republican circles in which you swim. Your ascent would have been curtailed, your dreams of being one of the chosen few, dashed. We all saw the viciousness with which you attacked members of Congress who had the audacity to suggest that you might not be entitled to your current position on the high court. So, I’ll go out on a limb here and say you would not only have driven her to the abortion clinic, you would probably have paid for it. (Okay, fine, you’d have gotten your parents to pay for it.)
And finally, here’s one for Alito: How do you justify allowing your personal religious beliefs to violate the rights of women? Or do you not believe women have rights? Do you believe we’re fully human? Help me understand, please, what logic you apply when you decide you are better equipped to handle my family planning than I am.
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