Supreme Court Passes Up a Chance to Reconsider Roe [View all]

[ancianita]

Source: Mother Jones

Tuesday, the court declined to hear the Indiana case. The per curiam opinion explaining the court's reasoning for the denial didn't reveal the vote breakdown, but the decision was supported by at least one of the court's most conservative members: Clarence Thomas.

Tuesday's decision in favor of Planned Parenthood wasn't rooted in any sort of desire to preserve abortion rights, but rather in procedural issues.

Both Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote separately to say they would have blocked the fetal remains law. "This case implicates 'the right of [a] woman to choose to have an abortion before viability and to obtain it without undue interference from the State,'" Ginsburg wrote, arguing that Indiana's petition should have been denied completely.

Indiana has one more controversial abortion case still pending before the court, involving a state law that would require women to undergo an ultrasound at least 18 hours before receiving an abortion. The 7th Circuit held that the law created an undue burden on a woman's right to have an abortion, without any "known benefits," and blocked its implementation. Indiana appealed to the Supreme Court, which will consider the petition again on Thursday.

Read more: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/05/supreme-court-passes-up-on-a-chance-to-reconsider-roe/?fbclid=IwAR2yCX7UrEsjsEC_gkfhGwxyOfNV9caCOKaxtpXHIMn_fvHm5qKlGlPQPWg

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A cynical take is that SCOTUS realizes that a total reversal of Roe at this point would be a disaster for the GOP, and that the conservative wing of the court serves the GOP more than it serves the Constitution.

A Roe reversal at this point would not only deprive the GOP of one of their two favorite wedge and fundraising issues before the 2020 election (the other one being guns)

A more constitutional take is that, since 70% of Americans support Roe, it would create a nightmarish backlash, propelling the abortion issue toward the top of the list of issues influencing people's votes.

Until SCOTUS shows a pattern of refusing to hear state-generated cases, it can't yet be clear to half the public that Roe is, indeed, settled.

Long term, if half the country doesn't stay vigilant, SCOTUS could well be content to chip away at Roe a little at a time, while states unduly burden women legally to the point where a Roe reversal would scarcely be noticed.