(1) Stare Decisis and Reliance: two legal standards that had restrained even right-wing courts for years. It's legal, but "bad", for the Court to overturn a long-standing law that people organize their lives around (as they did post sexual-revolution). So the standard isn't "is it wrong," it's "is it egregiously wrong." And the court has found multiple times that Roe is fine.
(2) The decision doesn't take aim at _just_ abortion. It takes aim at the right to privacy. This right is pretty strong, overall: the 9th Amendment says "just bc a right is not explicit, that doesn't mean it isn't real"; the 3rd, 4th and others say "the gov't can't just meddle in your affairs without real justification;" the 14th says "this right is universal." Implying this right is weak is iffy at best, and DEFINITELY doesn't meet the "egregiously wrong" standard.
(3) The new tests are, uh, speculative.
(3a)They rely on historical analysis that is contextually-driven at best. Are we talking abortion, reproductive healthcare, or women's rights? That's a matter of framing, not law, and will lead to dif conclusions, which makes it a bad test. [Note: more on this when Obergefell is inevitably challenged...]
(3b) The tests lead to dif conclusions than Alito reached. Abortion has been legal in the US for longer than it's been illegal; it wasn't banned nationwide until the 20th century, because it was explicitly legal under british common law. Even 19th century regulations were effectively just regulations of methods (poison control), not abortion itself. I'd argue "a cultural practice referenced in Shakespeare, explicitly addressed in 400 years of british common law, and that we kept for 100+ years in the US, including when the Constitution was written" is pretty deep. Besides, it's applied differently in different cases (how far back is "deeply rooted," anyway?). TLDR: arbitrary = bad test.
All this to say: I'm pissed bc it's bad policy, but I'm ALSO annoyed at the bad legal analysis. Like - there are better arguments! It feels like an F U.
(1) Stare decisis should not be followed blindly. "Wrong" and "egregiously wrong" are subjective gradations. Recall that Dred Scott or Plessy weren't considered wrong or even "egregiously" wrong for decades after their decision until they were. Also, Casey vs Planned Parenthood did partially overturn Roe vs Wade. So to say that courts found Roe "fine" is misleading.
(2) Roe vs Wade is not premised on the 9th amendment (as much as I would have liked that) or cases involving substantive due process (Lochner vs New York), but on Griswold vs Connecticut, which relied an unsubstantiated argument of "penumbras" and "emanations", as though rights can be "found" in the same way that one summons Captain Planet. Roe vs Wade does not make a protestation to the defense of bodily autonomy as a fundamental right. In fact, Roe explicitly rejects such arguments.
A mistake on my part: Griswold was partially predicated on the 14th amendment as one of the "emanations" but, unlike Lochner, not given a first-principles argument for substantive due process under the 14th amendment.
(1) Stare Decisis and Reliance: two legal standards that had restrained even right-wing courts for years. It's legal, but "bad", for the Court to overturn a long-standing law that people organize their lives around (as they did post sexual-revolution). So the standard isn't "is it wrong," it's "is it egregiously wrong." And the court has found multiple times that Roe is fine.
(2) The decision doesn't take aim at _just_ abortion. It takes aim at the right to privacy. This right is pretty strong, overall: the 9th Amendment says "just bc a right is not explicit, that doesn't mean it isn't real"; the 3rd, 4th and others say "the gov't can't just meddle in your affairs without real justification;" the 14th says "this right is universal." Implying this right is weak is iffy at best, and DEFINITELY doesn't meet the "egregiously wrong" standard.
(3) The new tests are, uh, speculative.
(3a)They rely on historical analysis that is contextually-driven at best. Are we talking abortion, reproductive healthcare, or women's rights? That's a matter of framing, not law, and will lead to dif conclusions, which makes it a bad test. [Note: more on this when Obergefell is inevitably challenged...]
(3b) The tests lead to dif conclusions than Alito reached. Abortion has been legal in the US for longer than it's been illegal; it wasn't banned nationwide until the 20th century, because it was explicitly legal under british common law. Even 19th century regulations were effectively just regulations of methods (poison control), not abortion itself. I'd argue "a cultural practice referenced in Shakespeare, explicitly addressed in 400 years of british common law, and that we kept for 100+ years in the US, including when the Constitution was written" is pretty deep. Besides, it's applied differently in different cases (how far back is "deeply rooted," anyway?). TLDR: arbitrary = bad test.
All this to say: I'm pissed bc it's bad policy, but I'm ALSO annoyed at the bad legal analysis. Like - there are better arguments! It feels like an F U.