GOP Coat hangers
[Sticking this on top for all the obvious reasons. Fresher posts below. — Tengrain]
By now everyone has head the news that Politico broke last night that the SCOTUS has voted to overturn Roe V. Wade. Here is the most pertinent nugget from Justice Sam Alito’s draft:
We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. That provision has been held to guarantee some rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution, but any such right must be “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition” and “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.” Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 721 (1997).
The right to abortion docs not fall within this category. Until the latter part of the 20th century, such a right was entirely unknown in American law. Indeed, when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, three quarters of the States made abortion a crime at all stages of pregnancy. The abortion right is also critically different from any other right that this Court has held to fall within the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection of “liberty.” Roe’s defenders characterize the abortion right as similar to the rights recognized in past decisions involving matters such as intimate sexual relations, contraception, and marriage, but abortion is fundamentally different, as both Roe and Casey acknowledged. because it destroys what those decisions called “fetal life” and what the law now before us describes as an “unborn human being.”
Stare decisis, the doctrine on which Casey’s controlling opinion was based, does not compel unending adherence to Roe’s abuse of judicial authority. Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.
It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives. “The permissibility of abortion, and the limitations, upon it, are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.” Casey, 505 U.S. 979 (Scalia, J., concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part). That is what the Constitution and the rule of law demand.
Now, I’m only a sonofalawyer and not a lawyer myself, but even I can pick apart some of this nonsense. When the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted (July 9, 1868), it’s true that abortion was illegal in most states. Also illegal in all states:
- women’s suffrage
- Black suffrage
- interracial marriage
- same-sex marriage
All of these things (and more) are now at risk by Alito’s logic, his assertions are silly and meaningless. After all, Choice was also thought to be a right, until it wasn’t.
Here are some things that were legal in all states:
- segregation
- discrimination on the basis of gender
- discrimination on the basis of social class
Our understanding of the world changes, technology changes, society changes. The Constitution is not something preserved in amber, it is a living document. Amendments to the Constitution are exactly that: changes to the original. To say that the Constitution stopped on July 9, 1868 (when the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified), is profoundly intellectually dishonest. Originalism is an intellectually dishonest argument. We can thank Judge Bork for that.
And as long as we are speaking of intellectual dishonesty, the reaction from the right has mostly been glory to Gawd, but also a call to find out the identity of the leaker. It is very telling that Democrats are upset about the ruling and Republicans are upset about the leak.
I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that Politico has some journalism standards (and yes, there is nothing in evidence to support that), and they would not have published this unless they confirmed its validity and the validity of whoever leaked it to them. The conventional wisdom says it must be someone clerking for the SCOTUS, but who’s to say it was not a Justice trying to shoring up wavering flanks. The legitimacy of the illegitimate Roberts court is at stake, maybe someone will blink?
By leaking it now ahead of the midterms, there is every chance that the predictive Red Wave might be stopped. I cannot think of much of anything that would get those much-coveted suburban moms to organize as they take their daughters to soccer practice.
I cannot imagine anything that would get women (and the men who love them) more agitated for the primaries. Our illegitimate Supreme Court is a political operation, as much as they like to claim that they are above partisan politics, which is clearly a snare and a delusion.
Vote out all the Republicans up and down the ticket. Vote like your freedom depends upon it. Unpack the court, and unpack it now. It’s our highest calling and greatest challenge.
UPDATE 1: Says the guy who broke the court –
UPDATE 2: Susan Collins is very concerned.
UPDATE 3: The next frontier for the antiabortion movement: A nationwide ban
Mock Paper Scissors 
They have secret society rules.
This seems problematic. Potentially.
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/03/1096097236/roe-wade-original-ruling-leak
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So, not unknown you fatuous fascist, since it was legal in 25% of the states.
He also namechecked bony carrot where he mentions that “hey the slut can just have the baby and chuck it into the bin at the fire department”
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That ship has already sailed, TG. All one needs to consider is the utterly slimy (and unconstitutional) way Moscow Mitch denied a seat nomination on the Court to Obama, and then rushed through Trump’s last nominee at the end of Trump’s misrule. He broke the nomination and Advise & Consent function — and with it the Court.
This damage to our institutions is permanent, IMO.
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Cocaine Mitch is a slimy fuck that should never be underestimated, but who was President during that shameless power grab who forgot to use the power of his office’s bully pulpit?
Part of Obama’s enduring weaknesses was listening to all of the weak-ass clintonistas, durbins, schumers and every other go-along, to get along dimocrat willing to play by a set of antiquated rules that newt gingrich and morally bankrupt republicans wiped their filthy asses with decades ago.
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So the War in Ukraine gets taken completely off the stove and isn’t even on the back burner. Instead, a festering 50-year-old issue will suck out all of the air for months. Congratulation GQP/Pooty Poot.
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Speaking of Ukraine – here’s a lead paragraph that really confuses me –
It’s from Newsweek, so they might be serious in the victim shouldn’t strike back against attackers, but I thought military targets were legitimate targets in time of war, especially if you aren’t the aggressor. It does make me wonder how they report rape stories, though.
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Huh. I guess double-star bold doesn’t work inside of, er, quotes? or maybe inside of a blockquote tag? Oh, well.
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Perhaps the Ukraine will submit a fraught letter to “Newsweek’s Am I The Asshole?” forum. You know given the end times and the addiction to excited misery and DRAH-MAH!
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I know, Newsweek, right!?! I keep skimming their articles, clicking on the links by accident. But this one had that weird, overthetop comment in their.
Where’s the companion article praising Putin for generously attacking civilian targets, huh?
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Also, too: when Republicans accuse, they’re confessing.
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I’m thinking that anyone who identifies as a sane woman will find this motivation enough to organize and motivate the rest of us. Fortunately, we the sane people of this republic will join them and will overcome (eventually). The majority of Americans accept Roe v Wade, and don’t want it changed to suit some ultra right wing misfits on the Court. They (left unchallenged) will take away other rights as well once they continue their hobby of making America into a Christo-fascist state…
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I have a theory.
Some conservative on or around the SCOTUS leaked this.
Now they can claim the higher ground, since it is clearly a much bigger problem to leak the draft opinion than the opinion itself that denies millions of people their rights and paves the way to separate even more from their similar personal privacy rights, as established by SCOTUS precedents.
Distraction.
Who done it? My money is on a secret society SCOTUS meeting where Thomas was handed a copy of the draft to pass on to his wifey who has demonstrated that she has a lot of contact in various right wing areas. (They might have picked someone else due to her floppy mouth, but it’s a working theory)
Now, justice Kagan was allegedly quoted as saying this case has a stench of politics about it, so the fall guy will probably be someone in her office – Elena will be implicated without actually endangering the benefits the other justices have due to their positions by pinning this directly on her.
I still don’t get why it is such a bad thing for us to get a heads up on the decision, but I’ve never been in a secret society so what do I know.
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MDavis -SCOTUS itself is a secret society.
I keep coming back to the Politico Fact Checker who would have to verify both the content and the source for legitimacy. It has to be one of the Justices or Justice Adjacent and known to Politico, otherwise they would have had to check with Alito directly.
I’m not saying it was Ginni Thomas, but I would put my Quatloos on Ginni Thomas.
Rgds,
TG
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Ginni might be adjacent enough to have the goods. I still expect a frame job.
Hah! This just in! Trevor Noah is mocking the court for hypocrisy over the outcry about the invasion of their privacy, i.e., leaking the draft. Lots of cheers, pretty good show for the first 15, anyway.
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This was a flex by Alito, who while fapping off to kiddie porn like any catholic conservative male pro-lifer who doesn’t fully understand that they are latent paedophiles, dictated his intellectually dishonest arguments to an equally socially clueless and foolishly devout staffer who saw this as an opportunity to show the federalist society’s resolve in the face of an apathetic but confused American electorate.
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I’m conflicted about this: There’s talk about “expanding” the Court. What would that do, seriously. More justices on the political payroll? How about eliminating the Supreme Court. They undo, overturn previous decisions constantly. They are “appointed” by political parties. That’s how they vote. Impartial??!! I think not !!!
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My proposal that addresses that Feline Mama, is that each session of the court, it is assembled by drawing names out of a hat of Appellate Judges; the end of the term, they return to their regular jobs and cannot be called again for at least 6 years. So every year the composition of the Court would change and no one would have an institutional advantage.
But no one listens to me.
Rgds,
TG
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The fact that no one listens or takes this in to consideration sez a lot, NO??
I re submit my opinion until someone takes this Supreme Court seriously.
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Good idea.
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Expanding the Supreme Court is doable if the filibuster is eliminated, which in turn could be done if the election increases the Senate majority to 52-48 (or now, if Manchin and Sinema finally agreed to eliminate it). Abolishing the Supreme Court would take a Constitutional amendment — which is to say, it’s impossible.
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Biden says no 😦
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Infidel is right about that. But other than it must exist, all the terms of HOW it exists is leglislated by Congress.
Rgds,
TG
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Not sure of the mechanics, but maybe it’s time. The red states would be happy to see us go…
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Sounds good to me, eh?
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The map is rather intriguing. Do you know who came up with it?
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Wild speculation: Author Clive Cussler’s 1981 potboiler, “Night Probe” about a fictional 1914 treaty merging the U.S. and Canada but the treaty was lost in the sinking of the Empress of Ireland in the St. Lawrence seaway. Ace oceanographer and James Bond-type Dirk Pitt fends off a gaggle of arseholes to deliver the treaty to the government saving America AND Canada. Gawd I loved Clive Cussler! These days we seem to be outnumbered by arseholes.
This leak may be a good thing. Everyone is being jolted from the TRUMP! induced coma and impotence. GD him.
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Isn’t there only one Es in Jebusland?
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Nope. Jesusland can’t have Colorado.
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This will be a pyrrhic victory. The Republicans will get a shellacking in November. Watch.
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For the record, interracial marriage was always permitted in a few northern states. If you’re interested, here’s a paper on interracial couples in New York City during the 1850s and 1860s:
Click to access FerrisAJISVol92012.Final.pdf
South Carolina’s Declaration of Secession complained that some Northern states permitted Black men to vote:
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp
There was also (very limited) women’s suffrage in Kentucky’s rural areas since 1838:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/kentucky-and-the-19th-amendment.htm
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PoliticsGirl has something to say…
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
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Offered without a shred of evidence, which is why I kinda believe it:
It’s possible the leak was actually from the Roberts camp. The political effect of the final decision can be mitigated by putting the stench out early. The draft is a maximalist position. When the real decision comes out closer to the election, people might say, “Well, that’s not as bad as the Alito draft.”
Roberts will do everything possible to keep up the pretense this isn’t just naked political power. No matter what happens, that won’t cut it here. And since he knows he’s got a shit sammich, he might as well start airing it out now. Noses might get exhausted by November..
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