In successive days, over 150 years of precedent law was reversed by the United States Supreme Court. On June 23, the Court threw out a 109 year-old law in New York restricting individuals from carrying guns in public, and of course on the 24th reversed 49 years of precendent with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, sending abortion rights back to the states.
Whether you agree with the decisions or not, the one thing you can confirm is that these are activist justices on the court and they're wielding their power that with a super majority can move unchecked.
The other certainty is that both decisions were political, which is illustrated by the these two decisions themselves. In the New York case, no court touched it for over 100 years and the Supreme Court overturned it ruling that the state didn't have the right to make its own law. However, in the Roe case, they ruled the exact opposite and that states should decide.
Where do we go from here? Well, swallow hard because we have to live with it. Or until Democrats can focus and win back state houses and keep their majorities in Congress, which is another way of saying that we just have to live with it.
What we're left with in the Roe v Wade decision is that womens' rights are not equal depending on what state you live in. Andrea Mitchell of NBC made a good point in the Roe dealt with privacy and not equal protection, which women across the country clearly now do not have. However, only when enough pain and suffering occurs to enough people would a case on equal protection under the law be brought.
Now that Republicans have won on abortion, their statements really have become laughable in justifying a woman's right to bodily autonomy, starting with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) who said on today's program that it's not the debate right now about no exceptions for rape or incest only that he believes with the abortion ban his state is saving lives. However, this is where the ideology's callousness and cruelty come into play because it has nothing to do with real world circumstances. Judge Samuel Alito stated the it is not the responsbility of the court to recognize the social impact of its decisions. Obviously... but really?
And The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, God love her posed a next step for Republicans after their win that even everyone on the panel audibly laughed at when she explained the Republicans now have to change their image and become the 'party of women' and build the support systems for them. What a credibility grenade that was. Republicans certainly will solidify their image as the party of women when abortion procedures are banned in over half the country (we're looking at 26 potential states). Hardly.
With the current state of the economy with inflation and high gas prices, those will be the determining factors in November which only favors Republicans and if they win control of the house, make no mistake they will introduce a bill on a nation-wide ban.
If Republicans have the majority in the House they will also thrwart the findings of the January 6th Select Committee seeking to discredit them while actively obstructing the Justice Department investigation of the coup plot. This will leave the door open for the individual who said to the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States, to just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republicans, to run again.
No matter, if a Republican candidate wins in 2024, it will not be with the popular vote, a trend that has now been established. The majority of the country doesn't have proportionate representation in the Senate, which ensures that the minority stays in control and with the backing of an extreme right Supreme Court there's no reason to see this trending losing momentum anytime soon.
And make no mistake, womens' healthcare rights are the end of the line for the Supreme Court. Take Justice Clarence Thomas, of whom it's now fair to say is corrupted because of his wife's political actions, at his word when he says that a revisiting of other privacy rights should be done.
Even a 3-dollar fortune teller can predict that rights for LGBTQ Americans will be the next target for the right to put in front of their judicial enablers.
No more complaining from right-wing pundits about left-wing activist judges, they have the ultimate closers.
Panel: Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal; Kimberly Atkins Stohr, The Boston Globe; Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Garrett Haake, NBC News
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