Storm Clouds Gathering Over the Supreme Court
Storm clouds have begun gathering over the Supreme Court since May, after the court agreed to hear Mississippi's appeal of the case, Dobbs v. Jackson. The state's initial appeal, filed in June 2020, argued The Gestational Age Act complied with existing precedent, suggesting that Roe be overturned if the court found no other way to uphold the state law. The Mississippi act prohibited abortion at 15 weeks and beyond. The state's brief filed on Thursday directly challenges Roe and Casey. The brief stated,"Roe and Casey are egregiously wrong. The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history or tradition. Roe broke from prior cases, Casey failed to rehabilitate it, and both recognize a right that has no basis in the Constitution." Mississippi is going straight for the jugular of the Roe and Casey rulings. State Attorney General Lynn Fitch has hired Scott Stewart, a veteran of the Trump Justice Department, a former law clerk to Justice Thomas, and is expected to argue the case.
Since the death of Justice Ginsberg in September 2020 and the subsequent appointment of Judge Barrett, she is expected to join Justices: Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Thomas and Alito to vote against abortion rights. Justice Roberts, the "conservative " loose cannon on the court will not be of any consequence if he sides with the three consistently liberal judges.
The Jackson Women's Health Organization, the state's only abortion clinic, argued in its initial brief filed last August, that 50 years of precedent have established viability as a clear marker where the balance between a woman's right over her own body begin to yield to a states interest in protecting potential life. The clinic argued, "Before viability, the State's interests, whatever they may be, cannot override a pregnant person's interests in their liberty and autonomy over their own body."
Sadly, 50 years of "precedent" have claimed the lives of over 50 million babies and counting since the Roe v. Wade decision. "Precedent" that was based on a non-existent right. Oh, how we've hailed the Emperor's new clothes when we knew he was naked all along. This is not just an embarrassing moment that we can chuckle about afterwards. No, this is a profound moral outrage that assaults the sacred value of human life and dignity, the likes of which have never before been witnessed in a modern "civilized" society. We await the 50 million would be babies day in court.