Spectator
Nearly fifty years of trying to ram Roe down America’s throat has backfired on the Left.
"After a half century, Roe v. Wade, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions — and there have been several doozies — is history. The ruling was controversial at the time and generated increasing political opposition over time.
"The opening paragraph of the majority opinion, authored by Harry Blackmun, a legislator-wannabe, was social science blather, unconnected to the Constitution. The ruling, based on trimesters and such, read like a congressional enactment, not a constitutional decision. As Jeremy Bentham claimed of natural rights, Roe’s legal arguments were “nonsense upon stilts,” an embarrassment for America’s most important court.
"In 1973 the Left expected judges to cut through the complications and resolve the issue. A half century of increasingly bitter political warfare later, that illusion has been shattered.
"Even some liberals, later restyled as progressives, had their doubts. My constitutional law professor liked the ruling’s substance but doubted its constitutional justification. Yale’s John Hart Ely made a similar point, complaining that the decision didn’t even pretend to be constitutional law. To the shock of some pro-abortion activists, the progressive saint Ruth Bader Ginsburg also expressed doubts about Roe.
"However, a half century ago seven justices thought the law should be liberalized. So they voted to liberalize it. There was no compromise, no serious assessment of countervailing interests, and not the slightest consideration of the baby’s life. What had been an emerging debate in multiple states across the nation — then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the liberalization of California’s law, an action he later regretted — was cut short. And a culture war was ignited.". . .
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