Chemerinsky: Precedent seems to matter little in the Roberts Court
Erwin Chemerinsky. Photo by Jim Block.
How much weight does the Roberts Court give to precedent? This is the crucial underlying question now that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted review in
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which puts the fate of
Roe v. Wade before the justices. The case concerns a Mississippi law that prohibits abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy.
The court has said the “essential holding” of
Roe v. Wade is that states cannot prohibit abortions prior to viability, the time at which the fetus can survive outside the womb. That, at the earliest, is the 22nd or 23rd week of pregnancy. The Supreme Court, in granting review in the Mississippi case, said the issue before it is whether states can prohibit abortions before viability.
SCOTUS and abortion: Bad precedents need replacing by good ones catholicworldreport.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from catholicworldreport.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Columnist Eric Zorn notes that Republican state legislatures have been enacting or attempting to enact a series of troubling, oppressive laws, thus vindicating the heavily partisan moves of Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly
A Republican senator has accused Democrats of trying to blackmail the United States Supreme Court by threatening to add justices to the bench if it rules that Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
Echoes is the opinion section of TheBostonPilot.com. The Boston Pilot is a daily news Catholic newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts, covering news and opinion about the Catholic Church and Catholic life. We carry daily news from Boston, New England, US, the Vatican, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central and Latin America. The Boston Pilot is part of the Pilot Media Group, America s oldest Catholic newspaper and the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston.